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Social identification and the treatment of in-group deviants: the black sheep effect or the devil protection effect

SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION AND THE TREATMENT OF IN-GROUP
DEVIANTS: THE BLACK SHEEP EFFECT OR THE DEVIL PROTECTION
EFFECT
by
Joy Stratton
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PSYCHOLOGY)
August 2007
Copyright 2007 Joy Stratton

Social identity theory (Tajfel, 1979; Tajfel & Turner, 1986) in conjunction with the subjective group dynamics model (Marques, Paez, & Abrams, 1998; Marques, Abrams, Paez, & Hogg, 2001) predicts that the negative and/ or deviant behavior of an in-group member may result in more negative evaluations of that person relative to a similarly-described out-group member (the black sheep effect) when certain conditions are met. These same theories also imply that people may also "protect" deviant in-group members over out-group members (the devil protection effect) in other situations. In study 1, I hypothesized that participants' overall level of identification with the in-group will moderate judgments of in-group and out-group deviants, such that high identifiers would be more likely than low identifiers to demonstrate the black sheep effect. However, this hypothesis was not supported. Study 2 assessed whether the context of target evaluations (public or private) moderates the relationship between social identification and the black sheep effect. Context of target evaluations was found to moderate deviant target evaluations such that deviant in-group targets were rated more positively than deviant out-group targets when participants thought their evaluations would be public (the devil protection effect). No differential evaluations were found when participants thought their evaluations would be private. Study 3 investigated whether the nature of a person's identification with an in-group differentially predicts the black sheep effect or the devil protection effect. Partial support was found for this hypothesis.

SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION AND THE TREATMENT OF IN-GROUP
DEVIANTS: THE BLACK SHEEP EFFECT OR THE DEVIL PROTECTION
EFFECT
by
Joy Stratton
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PSYCHOLOGY)
August 2007
Copyright 2007 Joy Stratton